


Dreams Awaken In Sunlight

by jessebee



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, DO NOT COPY TO ANY OTHER SITE OR APP, Developing Relationship, First Kiss, Fluff, M/M, Party Like It's 1999, Qui-Gon Jinn Lives, Revelation to the Oblivious, Slow Build, because I said so
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-23
Updated: 2019-05-23
Packaged: 2020-03-13 06:10:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,357
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18935023
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jessebee/pseuds/jessebee
Summary: All things happen in their own proper time





	Dreams Awaken In Sunlight

**Author's Note:**

  * For [PunsBulletsAndPointyThings](https://archiveofourown.org/users/PunsBulletsAndPointyThings/gifts), [sanerontheinside](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sanerontheinside/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Though I Never Dared Dream](https://archiveofourown.org/works/5109065) by [PunsBulletsAndPointyThings](https://archiveofourown.org/users/PunsBulletsAndPointyThings/pseuds/PunsBulletsAndPointyThings). 
  * Inspired by [Quiet Talks and Troubled Dreams](https://archiveofourown.org/works/7541629) by [sanerontheinside](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sanerontheinside/pseuds/sanerontheinside). 



> [[Once upon a time, punsbulletsandpointythings wrote “Though I Never Dared Dream,”  
> Wherein it happened that Qui-Gon Jinn reappeared in the realm of the living some eleven years after Naboo.  
> And once upon another time sanerontheinside wrote both “Quiet Talks and Troubled Dreams”  
> Wherein it was said: __
> 
> “Obi-Wan, if you ever wish to leave, if ever you decide it would be for the best - know that I will go with you.”  
>  “You’d better,” [Obi-Wan] nearly growled, and pulled Qui-Gon to him in a tight embrace. “Not letting you go wandering off like that again.”  
> There was a breathless, stuttering laugh against his shoulder. “No plans to.”  
> “But then, we never plan these things,” Obi-Wan agreed with a sigh.  
> “Hmm,” Qui-Gon hummed thoughtfully. “Perhaps if we bothered to plan it, we’d end up in less trouble.”  
> “Naboo, relief effort. Anakin and Ahsoka, gagged and bound if necessary. There. Planned.”  
> There was a faint snort near Obi-Wan’s ear. “Done.”
> 
> and also a meta-summary-synopsis thing of what else she might do in this ‘verse: http://sanerontheinside.tumblr.com/post/146612683214/qui-gonobi-wan-all-that-weve-lost  
> wherein she opined:
> 
> The Generals settle down quietly at Varykino, for about a month. Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon finally get together - which, in the midst of all the fuss of settling down in a new place and figuring out how to stay off the map, nobody notices. 
> 
> Apparently I’m continuing the trend, because I really wanted to see that scene. I have been most fortunately blessed by both of these awesome writers. I believe this stands on its own, although it makes more sense if you read the others first. Enjoy :-)]]

 

 

 

 

*

Qui-Gon peered out across the lake, squinting through Naboo’s sunshine and the energy-ribbon shimmer it painted on the water’s surface. Two figures were visible now on the far shore, being joined by a third with a rather distinctive silhouette. “They’ve discovered us, perhaps,” he mused out loud.

 “Anakin?” asked a drowsy voice.

 Qui-Gon blinked and looked down to his left. “And Padmé and Ahsoka.” The shape of her montrals gave her away, but there would have been no mistaking his great-grandpadawan’s Force presence, even at this distance.

 “Hmm. Comin’ here?”

 “I think not, as we commandeered the boat,” Qui-Gon replied absently, watching the man at his side now instead. Although lack of floatable transport certainly wouldn’t stop Anakin or Ahsoka, nor probably Padmé either, if any of them wanted to reach the little island where he and Obi-Wan were relaxing. “I thought you were asleep.”

 “Am. ‘m asleep,” Obi-Wan mumbled. He stretched, then rolled onto his back with a sigh, followed by a tiny wriggle. That seemed to find him a more comfortable spot and settle him deeper into the blanket they were sharing on the grass, and the shadow of a smile curved his mouth.

 Several weeks of Naboo sun had helped a little, but Obi-Wan, always pale, was ship-ghostly still, his skin almost sickly translucent in the light dappling through tree-branches and leaves.

 But the sunshine here loved its fire-child as it had on so many worlds that Qui-Gon recalled: igniting Obi-Wan’s coppery hair, picking out scars and gilding the hard contours of chest and arms and thighs, playing across the thin fabric of the swimming shorts that clung lovingly to Obi-Wan’s narrow waist and trim hips and –

 Qui-Gon swallowed hard and forced his gaze away, back across the water that separated their tiny bit of soil and sand and grass and trees from Lake Varykino’s main shore, letting the glare score gem-flash brilliance across his sight.

 Which did exactly nothing at all to wipe away the image in Qui-Gon’s mind’s eye.

 Present blurring over the past, leaping the eleven years Qui-Gon had lost. Padawan. Jedi Master. General. Councilor. Every inch and more the amazing Knight Qui-Gon had always known Obi-Wan would become.

 Grown closer these last years, the two of them had, slowly – Qui-Gon determined to make good on the second chance he’d been inexplicably given. Easing old fears, succoring old wounds that at last had a chance to heal; making amends. Beginning to relearn his old/new padawan, before the Force-forsaken war had separated them.

 Before its Darkness had fractured pieces from Qui-Gon’s heart.

 Only now did he understand how close he’d been to shattering completely, now that he was out from under it and the cracks were starting to mend, annealing in the Light of Obi-Wan’s presence.

 Because that’s what Obi-Wan was: a beacon of Light. A Force-fire that Qui-Gon had been drawn to, moth-like, from the very beginning, and locked into orbit around years before he’d understood that he’d been caught.

 Unable to escape now even if he could think of trying. He’d been waiting, _wanting_ , for longer than he’d even known that he’d wanted.

 Obi-Wan. Dearest friend.

 Beloved.

 Qui-Gon closed his eyes.

 ‘ _Trust your feelings.’_

  _Should I?_

  _ **Can** _ _I, in this? Or will I break something this time that cannot be fixed? He cares, I know, but –_

 “Can you what?”

 Qui-Gon started and looked back around.

 Obi-Wan was watching him now, clear-water eyes hooded but quite, quite awake. “Can you what, Qui-Gon?”

 How had Obi-Wan heard that? “I’m sorry to have woken you.”

 “I wasn’t asleep,” Obi-Wan replied, blithely contradicting himself. “Can you – what?”

 “It’s nothing – ”

 “‘ – ‘nothing’ doesn’t overrun your shields like that.” Obi-Wan sat up, smooth and graceful as he always was. His steady gaze was like heat against Qui-Gon’s face. “You’re going to have me nervous in a minute; what is it?”

 “Make the Negotiator nervous? Surely not,” Qui-Gon deflected, and regretted the gentle tease immediately as Obi-Wan scrunched up his face and turned his head as if to nudge those words, that title, away. “I’m sorry.”

 “Then make it up to me and just _tell_ me.”

 Faced with that regard, Qui-Gon opened his mouth, even though he’d no real clue what disaster might come out of it. Trust the Force, then. “You know, I hope, that I love you.”

 An indrawn breath, and Obi-Wan’s eyes went soft, his mouth and mustache curling up at the edges. “Shockingly, I _had_ guessed that. I love you, too.”

 Obi-Wan loved him.

 The words landed like rain or salvation – tiny explosions of energy to crack the doors the rest of the way open and release the other words, Qui-Gon’s words, out into the daylight.

 Qui-Gon reached, slowly, until he was cupping the side of Obi-Wan’s face, feeling the fine bone of that stubborn jaw and the tickle of beard-hair across his palm. “But do you understand that I am _in_ _love_ with you?” he asked, as steadily as he could, daring a fingertip caress to the skin behind Obi-Wan’s ear.

 And watched in wonder as his old padawan just – lit up.

 “Yes,” Obi-Wan said, simply.

 “Yes?”

 “Yes,” Obi-Wan repeated, and grinned – the wide, bright smile Qui-Gon had seen far too little of in recent years. “I do understand. I just wasn’t sure if you ever would.”

 He knew – wait. He _knew?_ “Then why didn’t _you_ tell _me?”_

 The grin blossomed into full-out mischief. “And ruin the surprise?”

 Something warm and wonderful was bubbling up in Qui-Gon’s chest and fizzing through the Force around them, and he realized, amazed and yet not, that it just might be happiness. “Imp,” he mock-growled, and watched Obi-Wan’s eyes get brighter still. “Irreverent, beautiful imp – Obi-Wan – ”

 Obi-Wan nodded, rubbing his cheek against Qui-Gon’s hand. “Yes, Master.”

 Qui-Gon’s skin tingled. “I did say that you were a wiser man than I.”

 “I like to think that I’ve done my best to live up to your expectations,” Obi-Wan murmured, and his voice beckoned like soft wind through tall grasses, like a gentle ocean, like the Force. He curved one hand around Qui-Gon’s skull and slid his fingers into the mess of Qui-Gon’s hair, loosely braided for swimming. The touch shivered down Qui-Gon’s spine, pebbling skin in its wake.

 “So what is your counsel now, my wise former apprentice?” Seated, they were more of a height and Qui-Gon leaned in close, closer, closer still until he felt Obi-Wan’s breath against his own mouth, right on the edge of falling into the pool of familiar gray-blue eyes.

 “That you should kiss me, my enlightened former master,” Obi-Wan said, still in that elemental voice, and tilted his face up.

 He tasted like the tea from firstmeal, and lake water, and an undefinable, utterly essential sort of Obi-Wan-ness. And something clicked, as though all the pieces of Qui-Gon’s heart had been fitted together and sealed with gold, perhaps the sunlight off of Obi-Wan’s hair.

They explored for long, luscious minutes, unhurried, until Obi-Wan lipped back delicately out of the kiss and tucked himself against Qui-Gon’s chest, skin to skin, and sighed. Qui-Gon put his arms around Obi-Wan’s back and sighed as well. Arousal simmered along his nerves but it was a gentle thing as of yet. In fact, Qui-Gon felt rather like he had just finished a deep, satisfying meditation. Which he supposed he had, in a way.

 Obi-Wan breathed, warm breath ruffling along Qui-Gon’s collarbone like caressing fingers. “The question now is, I suppose, what to tell Anakin,” he murmured, contemplatively.

 Qui-Gon smiled and rubbed his cheek against red-gold hair. “We must tell him something?”

 “Hmm. I believe there’s a bet.”

 A bet? Qui-Gon blinked. “With whom?”

 “Padmé, for certain.”

 “... on _us?”_

 “Hmm.”

 “Force.”

 “Indeed.” Obi-Wan shifted his weight. If he got any closer, he’d be inside Qui-Gon’s skin with him. Not that that was a problem. “I’m reasonably sure Cody’s in on it.”

 “Meaning Sinker and Rex will be as well,” Qui-Gon said, still boggled but starting to see both the hilarity and the possibilities. “Say nothing until we discover who has the best stake and make them swear to split it with us.”

 Obi-Wan’s laughter echoed through the trees.

* * *


End file.
